First flight: Cirrus Vision SF50 certification jet

Cirrus Aircraft has achieved a milestone in its Vision SF50 personal jet program with the successful first flight of certification aircraft “C-Zero” (C0).

The SF50 is a seven seat, pressurized, single engine jet and the newest airplane in Cirrus’ line of composite high performance aircraft.

As part of a series of evaluations to meet FAA certification, the newest airplane in the development program underwent ground tests before taking off from the Duluth International Airport at approximately 5 p.m. CDT on Monday, March 24.

Cirrus Aircraft Director of Engineering Flight Test and Chief Test Pilot Mike Stevens, who flew C0 on a one-hour sortie, reported, “The Vision Jet handled and performed very well and all systems functioned properly, just what you want in a first flight. Congratulations to the entire team on today’s accomplishment.”

“The first flight of C0 is the latest milestone of many ‘firsts’ for general aviation at Cirrus,” said Dale Klapmeier, CEO and co-founder, Cirrus Aircraft. “Today’s successful test flight marks another significant step toward our goal of elevating the personal flying experience with a clean sheet airplane design. The engineers, technicians, designers and all Cirrus employees that have worked tirelessly on the Vision Jet program are justifiably proud today. In the last 12 months we have made such great progress in all areas of the program and we anticipate fulfilling the first of our 500-plus customer reservations late next year.”

The first flight included systems checks of controllability, maneuverability and flight envelope testing, and speed performance at an intermediate altitude. This first flight paves the way for future flight performance and systems testing.

C0 is the first of three conforming flight test aircraft for the Vision SF50 program. A conforming vehicle means the airplane is substantially built and inspected to formal aircraft type design. C0 was assembled from production-ready drawings, tooling, and manufacturing processes.

The Vision SF50 features a high-end cruise speed of 300 KTAS, advanced avionics, the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) and an all-carbon fiber structure. List price is $1.96 million.